About the Dyes

choosing the right dye for your fiber

Your choice of dye depends directly on what kind of fabric you are using. You'll get bad results if you use a
wool dye on cotton, or a cotton dye recipe on wool, or either on polyester.
Dyes for Cellulose Fibers
These are your choices if you want to dye a t-shirt. Cellulose fibers include cotton, linen, rayon, hemp, ramie,
lyocell (Tencel), and bamboo.

 Fiber Reactive Dyes (best choice)

 Direct Dye (hot water dye, less washfast)
 Vat Dyes (more complex method)
 Naphthol dyes (more hazardous, less available)
 All purpose Dye (hot water dye, less washfast)

Dyes for Protein Fibers

Protein fibers include all fibers made by animals: wool, angora, mohair, cashmere, as well as silk. Silk is the
only non-hair animal fiber, and can be dyed like wool or like cellulose fibers, above. The high-pH recipes used
for most cellulose dyes will ruin animal hair fibers.
Dyes that can be used for protein fibers include the following:

 Acid dyes
o Food coloring
o One Shot Dyes
o Reactive dyes used as acid dyes
o All purpose Dye (contains acid dye)
 Natural dyes (these work better on wool than on cotton)
 Lanaset/Sabraset dyes
 Vat Dyes
 'Soy Silk' is a new plant fiber, but, because it is made from soybean protein, it should be dyed like animal fibers,
instead. Like real silk, it can also be dyed with fiber reactive dyes.

Dyes for Synthetic Fibers

Polyester: Polyester requires the use of disperse dyes.
Nylon: Surprisingly, nylon, which is a truly synthetic fiber, happens to dye quite well with the same acid dyes that
work on wool and other animal fibers, in addition to dyes that work on polyester. For more information on dyes
for nylon, see Dyes for Protein Fibers. You'll want to test a swatch before committing yourself to the project, as
nylons vary. Nylon can also be colored with a type of fabric paint called 'Pigment dye'.
Spandex: Spandex can be dyed with metal complex acid dyes, but it is much more common for hand-dyers to dye
only the cotton portion of a cotton/spandex blend. Polyester/spandex blends cannot be dyed.
Acetate: Acetate, also known as rayon acetate, requires the use of disperse dye. (The other type of rayon, which is
a cellulose fiber, is also known as viscose rayon.)
Acrylic: Acrylic fiber can be dyed with disperse dyes or with basic dyes.
Ingeo: Ingeo is the trademark for a new synthetic fiber, polylactic acid (PLA), made from corn. It is dyed like
polyester, using disperse dyes, though it is evidently somewhat less washfast.
Polypropylene: Polypropylene (Herculon, Olefin) is dyed while still in liquid form, before it is extruded into a
fiber. It cannot be dyed at home.
Dyeing blends
Most cotton/polyester blends are best dyed as for cotton, using fiber reactive dyes, leaving the polyester undyed.
Cotton/nylon blends may be dyed with all-purpose dye, or by successive dyeing with a fiber reactive dye such as
Procion MX, first with soda ash at room temperature to dye the cotton, then in hot water with vinegar to dye the nylon.

Fabric Paints
Pigments that are not naturally attracted to fibers may be mixed with a glue like binder to attach them to the fiber.
"Pigment dyes" are not dyes at all, but a type of fabric paint.

About Vat Dyes

Vat dyes are an ancient class of dye, based on the original natural dye, Indigo, which is now produced
synthetically. Both cotton and wool, as well as other fibers, can be dyed with vat dyes.

Not all vat dyeing is done with vat dyes!

"Vat dyeing" means dyeing in a bucket or vat. It can be done whenever a solid even shade, the same color over
the entire garment, is wanted, using almost any dye, including fiber reactive dye, direct dye, acid dye, etc. The
opposite of vat dyeing is direct dye application, such as, for example, tie dyeing. "Vat dyes" are a special class
of dyes that work with a special chemistry.

About Vat Dyes

Most vat dyes are less suitable than, say, fiber reactive dyes, for the home dyers, as they are difficult to work
with; they require a reducing agent to solubilize them. The dye is soluble only in its reduced (oxygen-free)
form. The fiber is immersed repeatedly in this oxygen-free dyebath, then exposed to the air, whereupon the
water-soluble reduced form changes color as oxygen turns it to the water-insoluble form. Indigo is an example
of this dye class; it changes from yellow, in the dyebath, to green and then blue as the air hits it.

Instructions for dyeing with vat dyes

Vat dyes must be solubilized before use. They are not soluble in their oxidized form. The process requires the
use of lye (sodium hydroxide), which must be used with due care, including the use of goggles.

Indigo is subject to major crocking (rubbing off of the dye onto other items) unless it is applied carefully. This
means use a weaker dyebath, and dipping many times, rather than a single strong dipping. Indigo may be
applied with essentially the same recipes as other vat dyes, or it may be applied with traditional fermenting
baths, which are more finicky but which use easier-to-acquire ingredients.

To solubilize vat dyes, use a mixture of sodium hydroxide (caustic soda, or lye) and the reducing agent sodium
dithionite (also known as sodium hydrosulfite, and found in Rit Color Remover). Ann Milner's recipe for
dyeing 100 gram of fabric, in Ashford Book of Dyeing , calls for 5 grams of dye, 10 grams of sodium
hydroxide, and 10 grams of sodium hydrosulfite. The dye is pasted up with a small quantity of water, as usual
for any dye, then the lye is dissolved in cold water and added, and the sodium hydrosulfite is sprinkled on top
of the dye mixture to dissolve it. Milner suggests using twice as much sodium hydroxide and sodium
hydrosulfite for blue or black vat dyes. The fabric or yarn is covered with water and wetted out separately, and
then the dissolved dye is added. after fifteen minutes, the fabric is removed from the dyebath, exposed to air to
allow the dye to oxidize, and then washed.

Sulfur dye
Sulfur dyes are the most commonly used dyes manufactured for cotton in terms of volume. They are cheap,
generally have good wash-fastness and are easy to apply. The dyes are absorbed by cotton from a bath
containing sodium sulfide or sodium hydrosulfite and are made insoluble within the fiber by oxidation. During
this process these dyes form complex larger molecules which is the basis of their good wash-fastness.

These dyes have good all round fastness except to chlorine. Due to the highly polluting nature of the dye-bath
effluent, slowly sulfur dyes are being phased out. Sulfur dyes are primarily used for dark colors such as blacks,
browns, and dark blues. The deep indigo blues of denim blue jeans are a product of sulfur dyes. Sulfur dyes are
water insoluble. They have to be treated with a reducing agent and an alkali at temperature of around 80
degrees Celsius where the dye breaks into small particles which then becomes water soluble and hence can be
absorbed by the fabric.

Heating and adding a substance like common salt facilitates the absorption. After this the fabric is removed
from the dye solution and then taken for oxidation. During the oxidation step the small particles of dye once
more form the parent dye which is insoluble in water.

This oxidation can be done in air or by using oxidizing agents like hydrogen peroxideor sodium bromate in a
mildly acidic solution. Now as the dye has become water insoluble in fiber so it will not bleed in water when
washed and will not stain other clothes. However the dye may have poor fastness to rubbing, that is the dye
from the fiber may comes out gradually if the fabric is rubbed against. Also the fastness to chlorite bleach is
poor because chlorite breaks the color imparting group in the dye and hence the colored part becomes
colorless.

Sulfur dyes are very inexpensive and very important to the dyeing industry. Out of all the sulfur dyes perhaps
50% of production is of the sulfur black color as black is the most popular fabric color.

Sulfur dyes do not have any pure red color in its shade range. A pink or lighter scarlet color is available.

Batik
Batik is a wax-resist dyeing technique used on textile. Due to modern advances in the textile industry the term has also been used for
fabrics which incorporates the traditional batik patterns although not necessarily produced using the batik techniques. Silk batik is
especially popular.
Batik has been both an art and a craft for centuries. In Java, Indonesia, batik is part of an ancient tradition, and some of the finest batik
cloth in the world is still made there. Depending on the quality of the art work, dyes, and fabric, the finest batik tulis halus cloth can
fetch several thousand dollars, reflecting the fact that it probably took several months to make. Historically it was worn as part of a
kebaya dress, which was widely used everyday. It waned during the 1960s till 1990s, because more and more women wore western
clothes instead. Although its use where heavily incorporated in formal occasions especially in the Javanese royal occasions, the batik
continued to wane in everyday lives. atik is an ancient art supposed to be 2000 years old. The wax process was brought to India by
the late Rathindra Nath Tagore, son of the poet Rabindra Nath Tagore. The crackle effects of Batik is the most fascinating part which
makes it unique.
There are a lot of possibilities in this method but one has to explore and experiment to exploit it. Enthusiasm and imagination is all that
one really needs to bring forth the beauty of batik. There is always tremendous pleasure in wearing a garment wholly designed and
printed by your own hand or creating a lampshade, cushion, curtains as you like. 

 The formation of crackles between colours is the interesting and beautiful part of this dying. To get crackle effect, wax is mixed with
resin and used.